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Site Secured For Cloghan Playground

CLOGHAN'S Playground Development has been boosted by the securing of a site in conjunction with the local GAA club before the closing of 2016.

The playground committee have been fundraising for almost eighteen months so they could follow through with the plans which will be a welcome addition to the area.

The site will be located beside Cloghan GAA pitch and will coincide with the walkway facility around the GAA grounds. It is quite a central location for the people of Cloghan and its surrounding areas. For the construction to begin the old dressing rooms belonging to the football club will require demolishing.

The committee have raised €21,000 to date and have a target of €30,000 to reach, however secretary Deirdre O'Connor has said 'people in the locality have been great and incredibly supportive. We've run a number of events this year but we will have more coming in the new year.'

So far the committee have hosted an American Tea Party with an auction on the night, Buy A Brick, Sponsored Run/Walk, Copper Coin Collection and a Bucket Collection on the day of the Tullamore Show which have been well received in the community and have aided in reaching their target.

Chairman of the committee Renua leader John Leahy took over from former chair, Denis Delaney and confirmed 'there will be CCTV installed at the playground for child safety and for the benefit of the upkeeping too and Offaly County Council have also agreed to run the community walkway lights.'

As the plans are being drawn up, the application for Cloghan's playground will be one of the latest additions to Offaly's small towns and villages as there is currently a safe play area in almost every other rural village in the county.

Deirdre O'Connor explained 'it's frustrating for parents not to have a facility for children in the area and especially when there's so many young children around here. It's also important for parents to be able to meet up and have a chat, having the playground within walking distance will be a great help too and it's free. There's not too many activities for kids which are free nowadays.'

Most importantly the Cloghan Playground Committee have involved the children of the community in their plans. Students in St Mary's National School Cloghan, Skippy's Cloghan and Lumcloon National School all took part in an art competition to depict their take on the 'perfect' playground with prizes for all students who took part.

With that the committee plan to begin their design stage upon returning in the new year, fitting it in with planning permission and grant applications before going to the community with their ideas.

The playground will be hopeful of securing grant aid from various agencies by March 2017 so they can send out e-tenders and begin the construction phase.